STATEMENT
A statement from Suojellaan Lapsia, Protect Children ry. concerning online child sexual abuse and exploitation in Belgium, with findings from French responses to the ReDirection surveys of individuals who search for and view child sexual abuse material on the dark web.
Executive Summary
The epidemic spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online calls for urgent action to be taken to detect and remove CSAM from the internet, develop perpetration prevention measures, and support survivors and victims. A recent increase in reports involving CSAM in Belgium, substantiated by findings from Protect Children’s ReDirection research on French speaking CSAM users, underlines the importance of immediate action in Belgium.
This statement presents key findings from Protect Children’s ReDirection research on individuals who search for and view CSAM on dark web search engines. The statement presents an analysis of 399 French language responses to the “Help us to Help You” and “No need for help” surveys, collected between 5 May 2021 and 5 October 2023.